Nicol David claimed her fifth Qatar Classic title
with an impressive straight-games win over Madeline Perry,
who summed up the performance of her Malaysian opponent as
"too fast, too accurate, too good.

For Gregory Gaultier it was a first Doha title as he
took a two-game lead over English rival James Willstrop, who
stormed back to take the third but lost out in a tense
finish to the fourth and final game. Gaultier thus collected
his first major title for over two years, and boy was the
Frenchman happy ...

Nicol too good"Too
fast," was Madeline Perry's instant verdict after Nicol
David collected her fifth Qatar Classic title with a supreme
performance in the final against the Northern Irish fourth
seed playing in her first Doha final.

Nicol has been here before, and she was instantly at home,
shrugging off an error on the first point of the match to
take the next seven with a combination of drops, volley
drops and boasts that were either winners or forced errors
from Perry.

Madeline got one more point in the first, but Nicol
continued in the same vein to take the opener 11/2 in 7
minutes, and at 5/2 in the second a very quick final looked
on the cards with Madeline struggling to get a foothold in
the match.

Gradually
she managed to stay in the rallies, found a few openings
appearing and pegged back that lead.

5/4, 6/5, then she levelled at 7-all as Nicol hit a rare
tin, but the Malaysian followed that with four winners in
quick succession, a dropshot, a loose shot driven away, a
perfect dying length and a short drive glued to the wall for
11/7 after 17 minutes.

Two-nil
down against a Nicol who's playing well isn't a nice place
to be, and the match continued in the same vein, Nicol
forcing the pace, Madeline doing her best to keep with it.

But the scoreboard kept rolling the Malaysian's way, 3/0,
7/2, and it only took one match ball, which was possibly the
longest rally of the match, before a final dropshot left
Madeline stranded and Nicol looking at the prospect of
picking up the trophy for the fifth time.

Nicol may have been a little defensive at the start of the
week, but by the end she was running, no purring, on all
cylinders, and everyone had better watch out in Rotterdam
next week ...

"That
first game? Well, I had a hit with Greg this morning!!!!!

It was far from easy, but today, I just had that feeling you
get at the end of the tournament, on the last day, where you
just want to get on there, and give it all.

Madeline always played 100%, but she had a few matches that
were more difficult than mine, it was an easy path to the
final for me… I was lucky as she didn’t play as many shots
as she normally does.

This was the best I felt and the best I played all
tournament, I felt good on there, and comfortable from the
start.

My length today was really good, I was able to contain her
and prevent her from playing her shots, she is so dangerous
on the volley. It’s one of those days where everything just
comes together, and work your way….

It
is one of those events where you just love to come back to,
a combination of the people, the organisation, the court,
the fact I got to 5 finals, and that I won them all, and
also, I have so many people that come and support me, that
makes a big difference.

"Too
fast!

She took the ball so early and went short right from the
start, volley dropping from the first rally.

That's not what she usually does and it took me a bit by
surprise, I was expecting to be able to work my way into the
match for a few rallies.

"When she's playing well she gets on a roll and it's really
tough to keep with her. If I'd managed to sneak the second
maybe I could have held it, but once she was two-nil up I
was struggling.

BACKHAND, PACE AND
INTENSITYApart from the kitchen
sink, those two threw at each other anything they could put
their racquet on, and they seem to particularly enjoy
battling on that left wall. Straight drives, drop shots,
volley drop shots and counter drop as much as you can eat
really…

Talking
with James, it seems that were it all happened, that it was
in that department that the Frenchman was able to frustrate
him and contain him, while setting up lethal attacks to the
front.

What really stood up for me in that match was the difference
of intensity between the two players. Greg came out firing
from the word go, hitting very hard to pin James at the back
with a frightening accuracy, while James’ strike had a
softer touch. I’m not sure that was the right tactic, until
the third game really!

Greg had work extremely hard in the first two games to
prevent James from approaching the front, leading 6/3, only
to be caught up at 7/7, the Englishman finding some
exquisite winner at the front. But Greg took the control of
the T again, scoring 3 points in the row, then closing it
down 11/8.

Full of confidence with that first game, Greg zoomed at 6/3,
7/3, with a James that looked a bit lost on there, missing
the ball a few times, although they were battling like lions
on there, their two styles offering a staggering show for
the lively audience.
And honest as ever, at 10/7 second game ball for Greg, the
Englishman gave up the point as he hit a double bounce. At
such a crucial time, may it be a lesson to you all young
players…

But all that pace that Greg had to inject, all that hard
work to annihilate James’ talent, well, the Frenchman was
going to have to pay for it at some point, and for a game
and half, James, having gone to plan B, took complete
control moved extremely fluidly, was attacking at will,
rallies were short and lethal.

At 5/1, then 6/2 in the 4th, I thought we were going to have
a decider but Greg seemed to get his second wind, gave it a
big push, up the pace went again. A few hard fought rallies,
the tension rose a bit and at 7/5, Greg’s racquet got stuck
under James’ arm. James, quietly, took Greg racquet’s and
instead of handing it to him, dropped if deliberately on the
floor. With a smile.

The crowd, in majority French for some strange reason,
boohoos James. That was soooo out of character! But as ever,
only the players know what’s going on the court…

As you may imagine, the
crowd was now extremely involved, especially as they both
were producing some stunning and at times ridiculous squash.
7/7. 8/7 Greg. Crucial times and 7 lets ending with a tin
from the Frenchman. 8/8. James was not to score another
point…

Greg
tonight wanted victory badly. Happy doesn’t start to
describe how he felt when he closed the match. He was like a
kid that is winning his first major tournament, so ecstatic,
virtually flying…

He absolutely hates being world number 6. He wants his
number 1 spot back. And he is now ready to not only get it
back, but to hold it. You have been warned…

We’ve
been playing each other since we are that high, since we
were juniors, we had some memorable battles. It’s actually
nice to see each other back to the final. He is just a
gentleman on court, such a fair player, I have tremendous
respect for him.

I remember when we play the British Open Junior final, we
had an unbelievable match for the U19 title, and I won 12/10
in the fifth. Right after the match, he came to me and took
me back to the court, that’s the memory I keep from that
final. We both dreamed about our career, and although on the
way, we had a bit of a falling out, but now, I feel the same
way about him than I did then, a immense respect and
admiration for him.

I saw that I had a chance to win, and I just took it. In the
third, he changed his tactic, and tried and slow me down. We
had a bit of a rough contact at the start of that game as
well, and I got a bit of a hit on the chest that cut my
breathing. And he played very well, got a good lead, so I
just let that one go to get back stronger in the 4th.

In that 4th, I stepped up on the T, re-injected some pace,
because he was really slowing me down, but I pushed, pushed,
until he broke down, but I tell you, I’m happy that my shots
got in at the end.

Doha is my second him now!!!!! Joke apart, I’ve been coming
here since the age of 16 or 17, and I’ve seen all the great
players win this title, so for me, it’s like a dream come
true, especially as I didn’t win a major event for two years
now. I was world number one then, then I went through
some bad times, lost my ranking, then injuries, then
depression.

But I’ve come out of it, came back and I’m sure it shows it
on court, I’m so happy to be on there, and this week, well,
it’s gone so fast, I didn’t see the days go by because I had
such a great time. And I want to thanks all the people that
came to support us, Qataris, Egyptians, French!!!! Thanks
very much to you all and of course to all the sponsors that
make this event possible year after year, and to QSF of
course.

See you next year!!!!

The
first two games, Greg played down the backhand side was much
better than me, which is a bit frustrating as it’s normally
considered as my strength. He played some super squash, his
attacks were better than mine, his accuracy and length was
just superior to mine.

In the third, I put it together better, I used my brain plus
the help of Chris [Roberston, ES National Coach], as I knew
something had to change. I had to find a way to stop
damaging me on that backhand side, as he was in a
comfortable position to hurt me with his shots. Maybe I made
a few too many errors there, but it was probably something
to do with the way he was playing!

I was not frustrated on there, yes, he was frustrating me
squash wise, but no, when I dropped his racquet, I was not
frustrated, he doesn’t get to me. But I find a bit surprised
what he said at the end, considering his comments and
behaviour on court....

There are reasons why he keeps on winning matches like that,
my length and width was just not good enough to preventing
him from attacking, which means that, at the end of the day,
he played better. He’s been going on all week about how good
he felt, how good he played, and he proved it tonight.

David the FavouriteAfter
a tournament where it seemed the upsets would never end,
we're down to the final four in Doha, with three former
Qatar Classic finalists still in contention for the titles
in the XIth edition of one of the world's premier squash
events.

Nicol David has been here many times before - the
defending champion from Malaysia, after beating Rachael
Grinham yesterday in a repeat of the 2010 climax, will be
appearing in her fifth Qatar Classic final and she hasn't
lost one yet.

For
Madeline Perry this is the furthest she's ever been,
winning an hour long three-setter last night against world
junior champion Nour El Tayeb.

As with all David's opponents - she is five--time world
champion and has been world number one for almost six years
after all - the stats look to be heavily weighted in her
favour at 16-1, but Perry's sole victory in the British Open
semi-finals of 2009 will be in both their minds.

So yes, David is the favourite, but we know what's been
happening to those this week ...Too close to call ?The
men's final features two players who have been battling it
out since their junior days.

Gregory
Gaultier won all their junior matches - although it was
James Willstrop who became world junior champion in
2002, after Gaultier had lost to Karim Darwish in the 2000
final.

The Frenchman gained a measure of revenge yesterday when he
beat Darwish, the defending champion, in the semi-finals.

For his part, Willstrop got his first win over Gaultier in
the Super Series Finals of 2007, and since then the wins
have been evenly shared.

Both are appearing in their second Qatar Classic final -
Willstrop won in 2005, Gaultier lost out to Amr Shabana in
2007.